Colorado: Statute of Limitations is Not Tolled by Employer’s First Report of Injury

Neither the employer’s filing a First Report of Injury, nor its filing of a Notice of Contest tolls the statute of limitations applicable to workers’ compensation claims in Colorado [see Colo. Rev. Stat. § 8-43-103(2)], held a state appellate court. Nor is the statute tolled by an entry of appearance by claimant's attorney, or even the assignment by the state's Division of Workers' Compensation of a claim number. The Court stressed that the statute requires the claimant to file a "notice claiming compensation." That notice must be sufficiently explicit so as to advise both the Division and the employer of the claimant's intent to seek workers' compensation benefits. Based on that holding, the Court found that the claimant had failed to file a timely claim.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Packard v. Indus. Claim Appeals Office, 2019 COA 146, 2019 Colo. App. LEXIS 1367 (Sept. 12, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 126.01.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see